Campaigning for the Student Union Elections has begun.

These pictures were taken before I entered the EleHouse on Saturday.

The five established staff of the Student Union (Thom Palser included) are re-running for their posts, and they are collectively known as the “Herts Heroes”. I’m not surprised, considering they’ve been there for about a year. Possibly more. Regardless of how long they’ve been there, we can reasonably assume that they’ve been established in doing whatever their posts require of them, given the time they’ve spent.

There’s no one to handle St Albans… And what’s more, considering my activity in CathSoc, my law studies, my role under UHSU Soapbox and my forgetfulness, I doubt I’d be fit for the post. Is no one willing to stand up for the post ? Or…

And St Albans isn’t the only department which is understaffed. Quite a few departments are. Some of the boards were in the EleHouse, and many of the boards in the EleHouse had no posters on them. I can only draw two conclusions : 1) Either no one’s running for these posts, or 2) There are indeed people running for these posts, but no evident form of promotion is up yet, and we’ll have to check back in a few days’ time.

The Herts Heroes are facing competition from a few people.

 

Given my experience with student representatives and elections, the thing about the University of Hertfordshire Student Union, as is with a number of student unions in the UK, is that when students actually occupy the posts, they at least do something. Throughout my years in high school and sixth form college, I’ve been through many situations where the president of a society is dormant, and the underlings seem to be doing the most work for a society. Or, in the case of a student representative, when elected, [s]he doesn’t do a thing.

Anything left to politics is bound to have its risks. When one makes a manifesto — a list of promises to the people — he must be sure that the promises are all feasible. There are many promises I’ve seen over the years which are theoretically possible, but because of either the lack of funds or the lack of people, some of these promises never actually get put into practice. The reality of student elections is that we have to make students satisfied, and we are a difficult bunch to satisfy, because oftentimes we represent the younger version of British (or perhaps even global) demographic graphs — we practically come from all walks of life.

This having been said, I would personally count on those who have already been there, done that, and know what it is that they are handling. If I were to get at least two weeks of hands-on experience in the UHSU headquarters, I’d be able to perhaps run in an election on the basis of my merits, and I’d be able to know what it is that I’m talking about because I know how taxing it’s gonna be. Because in many elections, we’ve seen people who want to bring about change, but can’t. I’d rather evade the disappointment — I know who to vote for in the Student Elections, and I shall not hint at anything.

Come next week, it’ll be our turn to vote. All of us determine the future of the UHSU, because technically, we are all part of it.